Section 3 girls hoops: Copenhagen, Sackets lose

SYRACUSE  If someone were to ask what a high school girls basketball postseason game should look like, show them the film of Sundays Section 3 Class D semifinal between Copenhagen and New York Mills.

The game was competitive throughout, fast-paced, physical, intense, emotional, and came down to a last-second shot to either win or lose.

Unfortunately for the third-seeded Golden Knights, their final shot to win came up short.

Carly Dziekan and Domenique Talerico scored 13 and 10 points, respectively, as the second-seeded Marauders pulled out a 43-42 victory at Onondaga Community College.

New York Mills will play the undefeated, top-seeded, defending champion Oriskany, which advanced with a 52-21 victory over No. 4 Sackets Harbor in the preceding game.

My girls didnt get down, didnt get defeated, and came back in the fourth quarter and put themselves in position to actually win it, Copenhagen coach Natalie Scott said.

Copenhagen, which ended its season with a 15-4 record, trailed by as much as nine in the second half, but got to within a point with 3.8 seconds left.

After a timeout, Logan Wheeler took the three-quarter-court inbound pass, dribbled to her right and got a decent, albeit contested, look at the basket from a few feet inside the 3-point arc.

The shot fell just short of the rim.

We just had to get the ball in and try to shoot or get fouled, we knew we had to score somehow, Wheeler said.

Wheeler lifted the Golden Knights on offense late, scoring seven of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter. She drained two pivotal 3-point field goals in the fourth, the second of which cut Copenhagens deficit to 42-40 with one minute, 40 seconds left.

With 6.4 seconds left, Brooke Spaulding grabbed the biggest rebound of her life off a missed New York Mills free throw to set up the final play.

We knew it was going to be intense at this point in the tournament, Dziekan said. Its not going to be an easy game, and we were expecting a game like that. We just kept our heads.

The Golden Knights used their signature five-for-five substitution method to set a fast and physical pace in the first half, which they ended with a 22-20 lead.

But New York Mills (17-3) gained control early in the third quarter, using its size advantage to deny Copenhagen any easy buckets at the rim, and getting better guard play to complement the 5-foot-11 Talerico in the post.

We just came together as a team at halftime and said, Well, our bigs are getting beat up so everybody needs to take a part and just shoot, and go to the basket and draw the fouls, Talerico said. We had to just go at them.

Copenhagen then clawed back slowly throughout the fourth. Scott said the team set short-term, possession-by-possession goals to cut the deficit.

We had to work twice as hard as we were already to get back out of the hole we dug, Wheeler said.

We had to stop them from scoring, so we had to get some steals and try to not foul them because theyre good foul shooters, Copenhagen senior Cassidy ODonnell said. Then, eventually work our way back with more points on the board.